Wiz Khalifa - Hello Kitty

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I'm not a huge fan of Wiz..his lyrics leave a lot to be desired but his beats are alright. This song has a really fun, chill flow and the video matches. It's off his mixtape "Burn After Rolling". I'm not even going to bother with the lyrics since they are just repetitive, but check out the video!

Oh, also! The whole reason I wrote this post is because I found and entered a Hello Kitty giveaway today, and it made me think of this song. There's a couple prizes and only like 2 other people entered so if you like Hello Kitty, you've got a pretty fair shot at getting some free swag.

Enter the giveaway at Hello Kitty Forever

Usher - Climax

R&B powerhouse Usher just released the lead single to his seventh album, which is still in progress and slated to release later this year. It was produced by Diplo, and this dubstep-infused falsetto song tells the story of a relationship that has become unsalvageable and has reached its "climax". The music video goes even deeper, and shows Usher still hanging on to an ex who has since moved on, while sitting in his car contemplating ways to have her again. It's exciting to see Usher back in the game and staying true to his soulful love songs, while adding new elements and growing as an artist. I'm absolutely in love with this song..what do you think?

Yasiin Bey - Niggas in Poorest

I know I'm like 2 weeks late with this song, but better late than never. Mos Def, now known as Yasiin Bey, has been in the game since the mid 1990s.  He's always been an intelligent, social-conscious rapper and has some insane talent. As a testament to this, he has announced his plans to release a Top 40 Underdogs series, which will be his reinterpretations of some recent hits. Remixing is a huge part of hip-hop culture, so this isn't strange, but he will stick with his style of social and political subjects which unfortunately is not common. Such is true with "Niggas in Poorest", where he puts a major spin on "Niggas in Paris". 

In "Niggas in Paris", Jay and Kanye boast about their riches (of course) and how they "ball so hard". Yasiin refutes this in the first verse, saying "So what's fifty grand to a young nigga like me? More than my annual salary". I could probably go on all day, comparing the two songs and showing how Bey turns each superficial line from "Niggas in Paris" into something actually relatable. I mean, I love Jay and Kanye as much as the next hip-hop head but seriously? They are bragging about all their money and status in this song and pretty much every song, while most of their audience is struggling to make ends meet. I mean, big ups to them for making it and getting all these millions..but what about all of your friends and family still in the projects? Do you even remember what it's like? Unlike them, Yasiin remembers what it's like in the ghetto. 

This whole video is amazing. The lyrics are on the screen so you know exactly what he's trying to say. The imagery he uses drives the point of every line so deep; you cannot ignore it. You can make it big and forget the 'Hard Knock Life' all you want, but that doesn't make it go away. It still exists and it's something the rest of us face every day. There's one line that I think resounds the message of the entire song, as a criticism to both mainstream hip-hop artists and the 1%:

Don't get caught up in no throne / Towers of Babylon rise up and so they shall fall

Also, one thing I've noticed in people's reactions to this song is the very end, when he says "Allah is in control", and  everyone is just trippin over the reference to Yasiin's Islamic religion. Hip-hop references the Christian God in literally countless songs, so I feel this shouldn't even be an issue. Why the hell do you care? The point of the song is not to preach Islam. The point of the song is to raise awareness within the hip-hop community of the injustice surrounding us and to provoke the audience away from the normal apathetic attitude and into action.

  It's them niggas in poorest, be them rebel guerillas

Wale - DC Gorillaz

This is probably my favorite song by Wale! The sick beat is sampled from "Dirty Harry" by Gorillaz (hence the title), which I'll post at the bottom as well. I think this song, more than any, is a testament to his talent. He confronts the tendency of rappers to practice "poor artistry", where they just spit inane b.s. on top of an 808 and it becomes a hit. He addresses how his refusal to stoop this low hurts his radio play/record sales, however, by saying "if I don't make that man there dance / that man there throw Wale on the shelf, and I lose" and later compares himself to photosynthesis, as his style gives a change of pace.

every single single ain't a single just to hit the clubs

Also, in true Wale fashion, he takes it back to DC for the last verse and makes it crank. All in all, this song is awesome. Granted, he's started to drift away what he used to be. I feel like since joining with Maybach Music, he's started to fall into the same trap of "poor artistry", although he's NOWHERE near as bad as Lil Wayne, Tyga, Nicki, or any of Young Money (thank God). He still has mad talent and he's not too far off, plus he always reps DC so he's true to his roots. Hopefully he wont go full retard.